Pundit can’t believe controversial Lucas Digne footage from Aston Villa – ‘there’s no excuse’
Noel Whelan has claimed there is “no excuse” for Chris Kavanagh’s failure to award Brighton a penalty after Aston Villa defender Lucas Digne kicked out at Solly March in the 18-yard box.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted there should have been “no misinterpretation” of the rules after the 29-year-old “lashed out” at March.
As seen in footage from Sky Sports on Twitter (13 November), the Brighton ace stole in ahead of Digne inside the penalty area – before Digne scythed him down in an attempt to clear the ball.
Kavanagh waved away appeals and VAR official Jared Gillet decided no clear and obvious error was made after reviewing the footage.
The Seagulls were trailing 2-1 at the time of the incident and Aston Villa held on to claim a second consecutive win under new boss Unai Emery.
The Midlands giants now head into the mid-season World Cup break sitting 12th in the Premier League.
When asked if the rules around unintentional challenges like Digne’s need clearing up, Whelan told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “There’s no misinterpretation, there’s no excuse – it’s a foul.
“If you get the ball nicked past you and you make contact with the player, it’s got to be a penalty. Whether the intent is there or not, March has worked hard to get there first and he’s been wiped out.
“Digne has lashed out, and it’s a clean contact to his leg.
“I don’t see how they can misinterpret the rules in front of them like that. There’s no grey area – it’s black and white.
“This is what we’ve got VAR for. If we’re not going to overturn decisions like this, there’s no point in having it.
“They’ve got to get these decisions right, and at the moment the technology is not working.”
In other news, pundit tells Aston Villa to U-turn on A-list signing after source’s January reveal.